


Postcards To Haven: Off the Coast of France

by serendipityxxi



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Postcards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-02-02
Packaged: 2018-05-17 18:47:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5881627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipityxxi/pseuds/serendipityxxi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nathan savours a quiet morning on the Rouge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Postcards To Haven: Off the Coast of France

The coastline is ablaze in shades of crimson, gold, and rust that are so brazen they make the blue of the sky seem delicate in comparison. They are thousands of miles away from home but the trees here immediately put Nathan in mind of a thousand other October mornings. It’s nice to know Haven does not hold the market on beautiful fall foliage. Nathan takes a deep breath, savoring the sharp salt tang of the ocean, taking it deep into his lungs and exhaling through his nose slowly. The boat rocks gently beneath him. There is nothing here but the low susurration of waves and leaves. A gull caws from high overhead.

Nathan loves Audrey and Duke, loves being out here with them but sometimes he needs a couple minutes, just a few, of silence and stillness that the two _fidgeters_ don’t. Duke, despite his meditation and his yoga practices is anything but still and Audrey is constantly in motion from the time she gets up to the time she falls asleep, even if it’s just tapping her fingers or humming under her breath. Nathan learned stillness through force but he appreciates it nevertheless. He closes his eyes and concentrates on the breeze as it whistles past his ears, brushes his cheeks with a cool wet kiss, inhales cold salt and the faint smell of rotting leaves.

Today they are braving the land and the people, though the more Nathan stays away from land he cannot say he particularly misses the noise. He is up here soaking in as much silence as he can before they leave. They are going to a museum to see an exhibit called Monet to Matisse; On the French Coast. The exhibit that will probably compare and contrast paintings of the French coast for the last hundred and fifty years. They're going for the hell of it. They're going because Nathan spotted a flyer and he wanted to go and Audrey and Duke shrugged and said why not _they have time._

Duke is a lot better versed in history and art than Nathan would have given him credit for before they set off on this trip and he’s actually interested in a lot of the geekier things Nathan wants to do. They have actually had conversations about painters and techniques and different art movements. Duke loves JMW Turner, because there’s always so much more to the painting than you catch at first glance. Nathan had smiled wryly at his pirate’s description. Sometimes Nathan still doesn’t believe that he’s walking around all these places he’d only read about in college with Duke Crocker of all people. 

Duke is not an artist. Nathan doesn’t think he is either, but he enjoys painting, capturing a color or a moment is thrilling. This morning’s stillness is a moment he would like to capture, to press it between the pages of a book like a flower and take it out on days when he feels overwhelmed, when he cannot stand the feel of everything touching him, when his clothes and his watch and the ground are just too much. Those times are coming fewer and farther between, Nathan is acclimatizing again to touching and being touched by the world. It’s a glorious feeling more often than not, the rough pads of Duke’s fingers on his arm, the softness of Audrey’s jeans, the grit of sand under his toes on a beach that might as well be a million miles away from Haven, that he never thought he’d live to see.

Duke took them to the Sidmouth Museum off the coast of Devon to see dinosaur bones and fossil hunt on the beaches afterward. The ichthyosaurus skeleton was so much larger than Nathan expected. Audrey asked to go to Skara Brae before that. Nathan walked the remains of that four thousand year old village, peered down into their houses where they lived and breathed and loved. They’ve wandered the ruins in Rome, toured Venice before it sinks, eaten tapas in Spain, and so many other wonders. Not bad for a boy who once was sure he’d live and die in Haven, Maine.

All through their tour they’ve gone hunting for history, paying their respects to ghosts. They are long gone, the ichthyosaurs with their dolphin-like snouts, the Skara Brae residents with their tunnels and fireplaces and even stone frame beds but they have not been forgotten. The relics are important to Audrey, they are proof that those who existed continue to exist even after they are gone. Nathan gets that. He doesn’t think there could be a better monument to her existence than the thriving Haven they left behind them.

He hears the clang of the hatch. That’s their signal. If he’s ready to come down they’re waiting for him. It still boggles Nathan’s mind that they are willing to give him this, time to himself, without a fuss or a protest. There’s no demand that he be doing anything useful or productive. The scent of cinnamon and coffee curls up from below decks. Nathan unfolds himself from his perch and climbs down. The warmth drifting out the door makes him realize how cold his cheeks and hands had gotten in the wind. Nathan quickens his pace, he cherishes being able to register the temperature difference even as it makes his fingers tingle. His feet clatter down the stairs to the galley and without thought, from habit, he doesn’t miss a single step. He could walk these boards blindfolded even if his trouble were turned back on. The Rouge belongs to him too now, in a way he never thought it would. He’d resented the boat for over ten years after all. But now it’s home, almost as much as the two faces that turn to him in welcome.

Audrey is perched on one of the stools, head propped in her hand, half-lidded eyes brightening into a smile at his appearance. Her hair is sticking up on one side, the imprint of the pillow still pressed into her cheek and Nathan can’t help but think how sweet she looks, all sleepy and soft. She’s wearing his socks he notes, her left foot swinging restlessly even though she’s still barely awake. Duke is whistling as he dishes out apple cinnamon pancakes and bacon. Nathan can’t help the grin that stretches his face at the sight of Duke in the kitchen, shoulders relaxed, none of the showmanship he puts on for the world in him here, just Duke confident and easy in his movements.

It’s another moment Nathan would like to keep, hold it safe, take it out and live it again when Duke is playing at being fine and Audrey feels like she should have the weight of the world on her shoulders. He wishes he could show them how beautiful they are here with their imperfections on display and their guards down. Instead he takes his plate of pancakes with a kiss for Duke. Audrey tilts up her face for her kiss as he passes. The casual affection is another thing he’s getting used to and it’s probably one of his favorite things as well. He loves them and it’s not a big deal if he shows them. They’d probably be upset if he didn’t. That’s pretty mind blowing, Nathan Wuornos has always felt like he had to hoard his love in secret, it is a gift to be able to give it away so freely.

Nathan cuts into his pancakes, ready to face the day ahead of them. A day where the biggest problem they will have is following the directions to the museum. No one will be in life threatening danger, the world will not end if they are twenty minutes later than expected. 

Nathan picks up a postcard at the museum gift shop for Stan on their way out. There are numerous offerings of exciting scenes, ships in danger, storms at sea, ships at war with other ships. The one Nathan chooses is a soft blue bay with clear skies and calm waters.

“Smooth sailing right now,” he writes. “Let’s hope the weather holds.”

**Author's Note:**

> Nerdy notes:
> 
> From Monet to Matisse; On the French Coast was a real exhibit - [ but at the St Petersburg Fl museum of Fine Arts](http://www.fine-arts.org/collection/monet-matisse-french-coast/)
> 
>  
> 
> [ Sidmouth Museum ](http://jurassiccoast.org/discovering/sidmouth-museum/)
> 
>  
> 
> [Ichthyosaurus Skull ](http://whats-out-there.tumblr.com/post/103568898525)
> 
>  
> 
> Dorset Coast (look how pretty it is!!)
> 
>  
> 
> [Skara Brae](http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/index.html) (Actual 4000 year old village remnants. The houses are still there mostly!)  
> 


End file.
